Author: Bella Andre

Oh.

If only she’d stopped with the fabrics, with the dreaming, with the desperate longing for happiness.

The final picture was from that first afternoon out in the vineyards, when she’d looked up at the end of the day and Chase had his lens pointed at her. She remembered the terror of knowing she hadn’t hid her feelings for him. Feelings she hadn’t even been able to understand because they were so raw, so new.

So pure.

“Ask me again how I know you’re special, Chloe.”

The pictures dropped from her fingers onto the table.

She didn’t need to ask.

Chase had shifted his seat so that he was sitting close enough to hold her hand beneath the tablecloth.

“Thank you,” she said softly, her throat clogged with emotion. “It’s been a wonderful night.” She licked her lips, squeezed his hand with hers. “A perfect night.”

Oh God, she was going to cry, could feel the tears building up, threatening to spill. All it would take was one sweet word, one heartfelt look, and she’d be a goner.

She was working so hard on holding those tears back that she didn’t notice Chase standing up until she felt him gently tugging at her hand. Blinking up at him in confusion, she rose to her feet and let him lead her across the room, his hand on the small of her back, simultaneously comforting and arousing. He pulled her into his arms and they were dancing to the song the three-piece jazz band in the corner had just begun playing.

The Look of Love.

Chloe lifted her face to his in surprise. “This song.” She flicked a gaze at the band, then back at him, shaking her head. “It’s almost like they know about—”

Her voice broke before she could finish the sentence. But she had to. Had to admit it to herself. To Chase.

Her voice so soft she didn’t know if Chase would even be able to hear her, she whispered, “It’s like they know about the way you look at me. About the way you’ve always looked at me.”

And, she now knew from seeing that picture he’d taken of her in the vineyard that first night, it was the way she’d always looked at him, too.

With love.

And with his large, strong body cradling hers, with his heart pounding against hers, Chloe pressed her face into his shoulder...and finally let her tears come.

* * *

Chase had never felt like this before, like his heart was breaking one beat at a time as Chloe softly cried while they danced.

He wanted to give her everything. He wanted to slay all her dragons. He wanted to hold her close and never let her go. He’d told her he loved her, but he knew she still believed she needed to leave him to prove that she was a strong person.

She’d told him the night was perfect, but she was crying.

His whole life, he’d always known exactly what to do. Women hadn’t been much of a challenge, but now he knew that was because he’d never really cared before.

Until he’d fallen in love with Chloe.

Chase wished there was a simple answer, wished he could convince himself it was as easy as taking her ex-husband apart for ever hurting her in the first place, and that once he dissolved the threat to Chloe’s well-being, everything would be fine.

But how many times had he and his brothers gone out to avenge a wrong against one of his sisters, only to end up the bad guy, only to have them cry, “I’m not a baby! When are you going to let me stand up for myself?”

How the hell was Chase going to let her go and do what she believed she needed to do?

And how much would she hate him if he couldn’t do it?

Chapter Sixteen

By the time the song ended, Chloe had managed to recover her grip on her emotions, thank God. Glad she hadn’t put on much makeup, she quickly wiped her tears away while Chase led them outside to a beautiful lavender- and rosemary-scented terrace complete with a bocce ball court.

“Bocce ball used to be my favorite game to watch as a kid,” she said to try and bring some normalcy back to things after crying all over him. “I would sneak out to the park where they had a couple of courts and watch families play together.”

“Did you play, too?”

She shook her head. “Not officially. But when there was no one around I would play with tennis balls I’d collected.”

She let go of Chase’s hand and moved onto the empty sand court and picked up one of the heavy balls. “These are the fancy balls I’d see other people playing with.” She laughed softly. “If anyone ever saw me, they probably thought I was making a mockery of the game with my tennis balls.”

She was surprised when Chase took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves. “Show me how it’s done.”

Chloe almost told him she hadn’t intended to end their über-romantic evening by rolling balls in sand for points. But wasn’t that exactly one of the things she loved most about Chase—that there were no hard and fast rules in his life? No shoulds. No have tos.

And, best of all, no shouldn’ts.

Slipping off her heels so she wouldn’t leave big divots in the sand with the sharp points, she picked up the tiny white ball. “This is the jack. We toss it out, then try to see who can get closest to it with our own balls.” She picked up a blue ball and handed it to him with a grin. “Since you’re all man, why don’t you be blue?”

He put his hand over the ball, somehow managing to pull her closer rather than just taking it from her. His mouth settled down over hers in a way that was at once familiar, yet shockingly surprising, and Chloe couldn’t stop herself from twining her free hand around his neck and going up on her tippy-toes to kiss him right back.

When the sound of a passing car reminded her that they were on a public court in the middle of the resort, she forced herself to pull away from his sinfully delicious mouth.

His thumb brushed across her lower lip. “I like this game already.”

She blushed at the heat in his words, even though there really wasn’t a single reason left to be blushing in front of Chase anymore. Not after all the ways they’d made love, the number of times she’d come with his mouth and hands on her.

But something told her she’d always blush with him, that those butterflies would always be there, flying around inside her belly whenever he gave her one of those hot, intense looks.

She wanted so desperately to look toward that future, to envision what it could look like, to let herself dream of little girls and boys with his eyes, his tanned skin.

But she couldn’t let herself do that tonight. She could only be with him right here, right now.

“Tell me how we score the game,” Chase said, pulling her from her dark thoughts.

She explained that the team with the balls closest to the jack scored the points for each round.

“I have an idea,” he said when she’d laid out the rules, and she couldn’t miss the wicked undercurrent in his voice.

“I can’t wait to hear this.”

And the truth was, being with Chase was so wonderfully exciting, so exhilarating, that even playing a simple game was more fun than she’d ever had before.

What would a life with him be like? Would each day be better than the one before?

Lost in her thoughts, she was surprised to feel his fingertips lightly skimming the skin beneath her chin. She looked up at him and her knees nearly buckled from the desire—and love—shining in his eyes.

“Do you want to guess my new spin on the rules?” he asked in a husky voice.

“Every time a person loses a point, they have to give the other one a kiss?”

He moved his mouth so it was barely a breath from hers. “So innocent,” he whispered against her lips.

It took all the breath she had left to tease back, “But you want to change all that, don’t you?”

“Don’t you?” he asked, his question a caressing challenge to her fantasies.

Oh God, she almost came right there, in the middle of a bocce ball court in Napa.

“Yes.” The word was released from her lips before she knew it was coming and his mouth captured hers again, far too briefly.

“If I win this game, I also win you for the night. If you win, you win me for the night.”

Oh God, they weren’t going to play tonight for a pointless score...they were going to play for each other instead. The wicked suggestion had her body immediately responding with a flood of warmth low down in her belly and at the tips of her breasts.

“If I win,” he said in a low voice that thrummed through her veins faster, hotter than a shot of tequila, “you’ll be mine tonight for anything, everything, I desire.”

She felt her lips open, felt air rush from them in the reverse of a gasp. “Anything?”

“Anything.”

No. God, no, she shouldn’t want what anything entailed.

“Everything?”

He ran his fingers over a lock of her hair. “Everything, Chloe.”

She’d already done more wild things with Chase this week than she had before in her whole life. Bathtub sex. Outdoor sex. Up against the wall sex.

She tried to tell herself there couldn’t be more, but it was no use.

She knew there was. Simply because she’d already been fantasizing about it. About doing all of those forbidden things she’d once wanted, things she’d been told were wrong to want.

“And if you win, lovely Chloe, I’m yours to do with as you wish.”

Oh God. She honestly didn’t know if she wanted to win...or lose.

* * *

Chase had never played bocce ball before, but he and his siblings had often played similar games where they hurled rocks at a target. At the outset of the game, Chase had been fairly certain he’d win. It didn’t take him long to realize he should have known better.

By the time they were down to the final point, 14–13, Chloe’s lead, he told her, “You’re really good at this.”

She smiled up at him. “I know.”

He loved the playful way she kissed him, none of those dark shadows in her eyes for the time being. “Are you trying to distract me?” he asked.

“I would if I needed to...”

He had her in his arms before she could finish her sentence. “You just gave me a good idea.” He dropped his eyes to her lush mouth, so lovely, so soft. “Prepare to be distracted.”

“You can give it your best shot,” she challenged him.

“Now you’re in for it,” he said, and then he was kissing her and the game was momentarily forgotten.

It near killed him to follow through on his plan and abruptly let her go. “Your turn.”

Her eyes were fuzzy and unfocused. “My turn to what?”

He smiled at her, a devious smile that told her he had her right where he wanted her.

Her eyes cleared. “Right. The game.” She gave him a mock-hard look. “Prepare to be destroyed, Hotstuff.”

But as she bent over to pick up a red ball, he knew he was long past being destroyed by Chloe.

She was lovely. And his, damn it. Just as he was hers.

It wasn’t one of them having power over the other. It wasn’t a matter of control, of wanting to be in charge.

She had to lift up the hem of her dress every time she got into position for a shot. Her legs were strong and gorgeous, her feet bare and pretty on the sand. There wasn’t an inch of her body he didn’t desire, from her toes to her eyebrows.

Just as there wasn’t any part of her heart that he didn’t love.

“Stop looking at me like that.”

“Like what?” he asked in his most innocent voice.

“Like you’re the big bad wolf and I’m Red Riding Hood.”

“Hmm,” he said, “now that’s an idea for another game to play tonight.” He paused a beat. “When I win.”

He barely heard her muttered, “Like hell” before she let the red ball roll from her fingertips.